Improvement in fire-arms



UNITI-:D STATES;

PATENT Ormes.

J. A. 'nnI BRAME, oF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IAN FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 32,685, dated July 2,1861.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, J. A.DE BRAME, ofthe city, county, and State of NewYork, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ordnance and otherFire-Arms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of' this specification, in which-Figure l is a side View of a revolving pistol constructed according tomy invention. Fig. 2 exhibits a central section of therevolvingchambered breech and fixed barrel of the same. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal view, exhibiting the application of the invention to afixed rifle-barrel.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

My invention consists in what I term a skeletonbarrelthat is to say, inthe construction of the barrel of a piece of ordnance or fire-arm with aportion of its length commencing at any distance in front of thechainber and extending to within any distance from the muzzle, with aseries of openings extending in a longitudinal direction, or, i n thecase of rifled barrels, in a spiral direction corresponding with theriiiing, leaving only metal enough to guide the projectile, by whichconstruction the projectile is caused to be projected from the barrelwith greater force and a greater distance with a moderate charge ofpowder than from a barrel of ordinary construction.

In applying my invention to ordnance and tire-arms with revolving orotherwise movable chambers and stationary barrels, I construct thechambers in the usual manner, and make the stationary barrels only, or aportion of the same, of the skeleton construction, as illustrated byFigs. l and 2. In these gures, A represents the chambered breech, and hh the chambers. B is the stationary barrel, represented as having nearlyits whole length ot' skeleton construction, the openings being arrangedin two series, a a and a a', of nearly equal length, those ot eachseries bein g at equal distances apart all round the barrel, and thebarrel being left whole for some distance from the chamber, as shown atb, between the two series of openings, as shown at o, and at the muzzle,as shown at d. The same construction maybe adapted to ordnance andtire-arms with movable chambers otherwise applied.

In applying my invention to ordnance and tire-arms with fixed chambersforming portions of the barrel o1' otherwise the same arrangenient ofopenings in two series, a a and a' a', may be adopted, the first series,a a, commencing a short distance in front of the cham- In adapting theinvention to ordnance andv fire-arms with ritled bores the openings a aa' a/ may be of the same width as and coincide with the rifle-grooves,so that the lands g g (see Fig. 2) ot' the bore are continuousthroughout the whole length ofthe barrel.

Instead of' cutting the openings in the barrel from the solid metal, thebarrel may, with the exception ot' the chamber and as much of it infront of the chamber as it is desired to have solid, be composed of aseries of wires, rods, or bars, bound together at certain intervals withrings or bands, and the said wires, rods, or bars may be arrangedspirally, to constitute the equivalents of a rifle-bore and cause theprojectile to derive a rotary motion from its passage through or betweenthem. It is not asserted that the perforating or slottin g of the barrelwill cause the ball to be projected with greater force in all caseswhere a sufficiency of powder is used to continue in active combustionuntil the ball reaches the muzzle of the closed barrel; but bycarefully-conducted experiments with otherwise perfectly similarbarrels, one whole and the other of skeleton form, and with the samebarrel before and after cutting openings in it to make it of skeletonform, I have ascertained beyond doubt that from the barrel of skeletonform a ball is projected with far greater force and with equal 1. Theconstruction of any portion of the length` of the barrel of a piece ofVordnance or firearm of skeleton form, substantially as herein specied.

2. The combination, in a piece of ordnance or fire-arm with a movablechambered breech, of a chamber or chambers of ordinary construction-thatis to say, Without openings in the sidesand a stationary barrel ofskeleton form, substantially as herein specified.

J. A. DE BRAME.

Witnesses:

HENRY T. BROWN, J. W. CooMBs.

